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Balkrishna

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Name
  
Acharya Balkrishna


Balkrishna

Balkrishna renake biography


Acharya Balkrishna is the managing director and primary stakeholder of Patanjali Ayurved, an Indian FMCG company. He is a close aide of yoga guru, Baba Ramdev, with whom he founded the company in 2006.

Contents

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In September 2016, he has been ranked as 46th richest man in India by Forbes. Hurun India Rich List 2016 ranked him at 25th position among 399 Indians present in the list.

Balkrishna things you do not know about Balkrishna the man behind Patanjali

Balkrishna is also a scholar of Ayurveda, Sanskrit and the Vedas and hence often referred as Acharya Balkrishna. The Patanjali group claimed that he rediscovered Sanjeevani Booti, a herb which is believed to have the power to cure any malady and was believed to save the life of Lakshmana in the epic Ramayana.

Balkrishna Balkrishna Wikipedia

Khas mulaqat with acharya balkrishna md of patanjali ayurved etv up uttarakhand


Early life

Balkrishna Acharya Balkrishna The Life Story of Patanjali MD How He Became

Balkrishna was born to Sumitra Devi and Jay Vallabh on July 25, 1972 in Haridwar. His parents are natives of Baglung, Nepal, but his father was working in Haridwar when Balkrishna was born. He joined Kalwa Gurukul, Haryana in 1988. Here he met the person widely known today as the Yoga Guru Swami Ramdev. They soon developed a bond that shaped their destiny. After Balkrishna completed his post-graduation from Sampurnanand Sanskrit University in Varanasi, he travelled across India to study plants and their medicinal value, a key element of Ayurveda.

Balkrishna Patanjali CEO Acharya Balkrishna among Indias richest businessmen

In the year 1993 he and Ramdev were living in the Himalayan caves of the Hindu pilgrim town of Gangotri, a popular haunt among holy men and ascetic near the source of India’s holiest river, the Ganges. Because of his knowledge of herbs, Balkrishna started getting frequent requests from visitors for medicines for common ailments. This planted the seed for the establishment of charitable organizations of ayurvedic medicines and treatments.

The duo founded an Ayurvedic Medicine-manufacturing unit named Divya Pharmacy in Haridwar in 1995. Later Balkrishna helped Ramdev to set up a number of other businesses.

Divya Pharmacy

In early 1995, Ramdev and Balkrishna set up Divya Pharmacy under the shelter of, Swami Shankar Dev's (Ramdev's guru), ashram to make ayurvedic and herbal medicines. They had the mission to make good medicines available at fraction of their market price. As per Ramdev, they didnt have the money for registration. For the initial three years, till 1998, medicines were distributed for free. Starting from purchasing raw materials to grinding, mixing and packaging used to be done by both of them. Later in 2003 when money started pouring in, Ramdev made Acharya Balkrishna as head of the pharmacy. Today the pharmacy is run like a business venture having two dozen vaids to inspect patients by minute and prescribing medicines.

Patanjali Ayurved

Patanjali Ayurved, an FMCG company, was founded by Baba Ramdev and Balkrishna in 2006. Followers of Ramdev, NRIs Sunita and Sarwan Poddar, helped kick-start the business with a loan. According to Balkrishna, he had taken out a ₹50–60 thousand loan at a time when he had never held a personal bank account in his name. In 2012, the company posted a turnover of 450 crore (US$70 million) which by 2015–2016 had risen to 5,000 crore (US$780 million).

While Ramdev does not hold any stake in the company, he is the face of the firm and endorses its products to his followers across his yoga camps and television programmes. Balkrishna owns a 94% stake in the company and has amassed a personal fortune worth 25,600 crore (US$4.0 billion). His birthday is celebrated as Jadi Buti Divas ("Herb Day") in the Patanjali group of companies on August 4.

Work Life & Culture

Balkrishna wears a traditional white kurta dhoti. His work station does not have a computer and he prefers to read from printouts stacked on his desk. He mostly travels by road and speaks largely in pure Hindi.

Balkrishna is involved in nearly all the operations in Patanjali, and makes all the decisions in production, hiring of senior staff and dealing with advertisers. Even though he holds 94% share, he does not take home a salary. He works for 15 hours a day from 7 am to 10 pm, including Sundays and other holidays during the year. He claims that he has not taken a single day’s leave either.

Board Memberships

  • Vice Chancellor, University of Patanjali.
  • General Secretary of Divya Yoga Mandir Trust.
  • General Secretary of Patanjali Yogpeeth Trust.
  • Managing Director of Vedic Broadcasting Limited (Aastha).
  • Managing Director of Patanjali Food & Herbal Park Private Limited.
  • General Secretary, Patanjali Gramodyog Trust.
  • Chief Editor, Yog Sandesh.
  • Awards and honours

  • ‘Bharat Gaurav’ award by Kaptan Singh Solanki, Governor of Haryana and Punjab in recognition of his amazing work in the field of Ayurveda.
  • Bloomberg Special Recognition Award
  • Ganga Ratan Award
  • Spirit & Entrepreneurship Award by ISOL.
  • Felicitation by Archana Trust Mumbai.
  • In 2012, “Sujaan Shri” award by Shri Viranjnya Foundation for his contribution in the field of yoga and medicinal plants.
  • Writings

    Balkrishna serves as chief editor of Yog Sandesh, a magazine that promotes yoga and ayurveda. He, along with his co-authors have written many books and research papers. All the research papers and books are related to yoga and ayurveda. Below is the list of certain major ones available on internet.

    Research Papers

  • Use of Ayurveda in promoting dental health and preventing dental caries.
  • Effect of a yoga practice session and a yoga theory session on state anxiety.
  • Short term health impact of a yoga and diet change program on obesity.
  • Serum leptin, cholesterol and blood glucose levels in diabetics following a yoga and diet change program.
  • Effect of Pranayama (voluntary regulated breathing) and Yogasana (yoga postures) on lipid profile.
  • Heart rate variability changes during high frequency yoga breathing and breath awareness.
  • Effects of high frequency yoga breathing called kapalabhati compared with breath awareness on the degree of optical illusion perceived.
  • Effect of Yoga and Ayurveda on Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.
  • The effect of yoga on neuroticism in an Indian population varies with socio-demographic factors.
  • Finger dexterity and visual discrimination following two yoga breathing practices.
  • Effect of yoga on different aspects of mental health.
  • Astavarga plants – threatened medicinal herbs of the North-West Himalaya.
  • Human Consciousness:A Theoretical Prospective on Repetitive DNA Base Pairs Relation to Psychological Behavior.
  • Blood pressure and Purdue pegboard scores in hypertensives after alternate nostril breathing, breath awareness, and no intervention.
  • Reaction time following yoga bellows type breathing and breath awareness.
  • Effect of yoga or physical exercise on physical, cognitive and emotional measures in children.
  • Immediate changes in muscle strength and motor speed following yoga breathing.
  • Role of respiration in mind-body practices
  • Blood Pressure and Heart Rate Variability during Yoga-Based Alternate Nostril Breathing Practice and Breath Awareness.
  • Research on Traditional Medicine
  • A comparative controlled trial comparing the effects of yoga and walking for overweight and obese adults.
  • A rapid and simple scheme for the standardization of polyherbal drugs.
  • Effect of one week of yoga on function and severity in rheumatoid arthritis.
  • Implications of Corporate Yoga
  • Managing mental health disorders resulting from trauma through yoga
  • Optical topography recording of cortical activity during high frequency yoga breathing and breath awareness.
  • Body fat, cholesterol, triglycerides, and adipokines as predictors of waist circumference in overweight and obese adults.
  • Human gut Micro biota of Obese and lean individual.
  • Corporate Yoga and Its Implications.
  • Post traumatic stress symptoms and heart rate variability in Bihar flood survivors following yoga: a randomized controlled study.
  • Yoga and diet change influence renal functions in the obese.
  • Controversies

    Balkrishna has been embroiled in a number of controversies including those that question his Indian citizenship and academic qualifications.

    The Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) registered a case against Balkrishna in 2011 and arrested him on charges of forgery and cheating. The agency claimed that his passport was issued based on forged high school and graduation certificates and that he owned a pistol without a legal permit. Subsequently, the Enforcement Directorate filed a case against him on charges of money laundering, but after the 2-years investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing and gave Balkrishna a clean chit in 2014. and another against him and a Naresh Chandra Dwivedi, the principal of the Sanskrit college which allegedly issued the fake certificate. The cases were closed in 2014.

    References

    Balkrishna Wikipedia